Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations DO HOOKS RUST OUT?

I caught a bass in my pond two weeks ago and it swallowed the hook. I caught the same bass last night and it still had the hook in its mouth/gut. Will hooks rust out?

FYI.... I caught a bass this spring that had a rusty hook coming out of his anus. I pulled it out the rest of the way and barb was rusted out and totally gone. The fish was in excellent shape.
The other thing to think about would be what type of fish hook. I use the Gamaguchi (sp?) #4. Hope this helps.

According to my consultant it takes 30 days for the steel hook to dislove and it will pass the leader or line with no trouble. I caught a trout last weekend that had bitten the rooster tail and it went through its eye a mere 6 weeks ago, it was totally healed over, yet blind out of that eye. I'm sure if they have function of the gills and still can eat they will be fine. I don't doubt that he passed it but its good thing the barb was off. Ouch!!

jdm

Quite interesting news about the hooks. Thanks

You know it is all anecdotal evidence. The fact is that survival of a gut hook is probably not good. "Barbless" hooks are probably better than barbed hooks, but a deeply hooked fish probably has suffered a bad wound and survival is a questionable event. Having said that, I do come accross lures in my pond that I know were broken off by fish in a fight. None of them have hooks left and I can only wonder if the fish survived the battle. I can relate a probable survivor of a deep hook event. There is in my pond a heroic sized Bluegill that I have caught several times in the last few years. Most recently I caught it and it showed some scarring evidence of being caught or hooked previously. It measured 13 inches long approx 16 inches in girth and about 3 inches thick! By formula, this fish weighs at least 2.5 lbs and I think more. I live many miles from a certified scale so I don't have a verified weight. I caught it using 4 lb test line and I believe it is probably an IGFA record. I do have pictures however, and the bugger is still alive in my pond. Be happy to send you the picture, email me jgillen@svn.net . In any event survival is an iffy thing, but I guess you have to try if you are not prepared to eat it.
Jim

On the topic of anal-hook retrieval. This past summer I caught an 8" Rock bass with a very large 3" hook protruding from the aforementioned location. I am happy to report the little bugger passed it with no trouble and was on it's way hook-free after a little assistance.

I wonder if the newer coated hooks rust away.

Hooks do rust out. What makes the decision easy, is that if you rip the gills, or tear a fish's throat removing a hook, he/she will die. At least if you leave the hook, you're giving the fish a chance.

For gill hooked fish, there is a new, at least to me, trend of going in behind the gill plate, and pulling the hook out that way. There seems to be less trauma that way.

You know, the hooks are passed pretty readily in a lot of instances; and bass in particular are pretty good about passing the hook. I don't know how they do it, but they do.

Anything larger than a 6 circle hook they seem to have a hard time passing, but I've seen it done. (pulled out of my ass fact!)

I would like to caution some of you guys who like to dropshot for bass.

Is it an effective technique? Yes, it is.

Is it dangerous for the fish? Extremely...

The problem is that the bass are passing the hooks, but the hooks are still attached to the line, which is still coming out their mouth, and the dropshot weights are hanging out of their mouths.

The weights are preventing the hooks from passing. The last time I went fishing on a heavily tourney fished lake in central california I cut the hooks and weights off of 2 fish in the same evening. They were hungry obviously, but they were anorexic and just generally not doing very well.

The dangerous part for the fish is that the fishing line is rubbing against their intestines and causing damage, and in a lot of cases death. Its really sad to see, but I'm seeing evidence of it more and more in highly pressured lakes where finesse fishing is the key to success.

Just wanted to rant about that because its been bothering me, and is why I stopped dropshotting.

Yeah, the hooks will pass, but mashing the barbs help.

Chrome plated hooks don't rust out quickly. I once caught a LMB at my dad's old pond where I left the hook in it's throat in Sept./Oct. I caught the same very skinny LMB with the hook still in throat the following April, by then it had turned around 180 degrees and I could remove the hook but that chrome plated hook was still in very good condition.

Aviod Stainless steel hooks if you want them to be able to rust out. In the Gulf Of Mexico it is illegal to have a reef fish on a vessel and not have non-stainless steel circle hooks to catch them with in your possession for that very reason.